By Chioma Nnodim
About 500 students representing eleven schools in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), have been trained on safe use of roads in order to prevent or minimize road crashes, especially in their movement to and fro schools.
The recent training programme which was organised by the Automobile and Touring Club of Nigeria (ATCN) had resource persons drawn from the Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC), Red Cross, among others.
Students were taught theory and practical lessons at the programme which took place at the Baze University Abuja and was supported by The Federation International de l’Automobile (FIA).
The training event, which was under FIA’s school assessment programme known as SR4, taught participating students on safety awareness on how to identify and safely cross the roads to and fro schools.
The students were also taught on the practical lessons on how to administer first aid treatments to crash victims.
The president of ATCN, Mr. Ishaku Bamayi, in his welcome speech, stated that “ATCN is the leading promoter of safety on the Nigerian roads by creating awareness among critical stakeholders such as commercial and private drivers, school children among others”.
He further explained that, “The Automobile and Touring Club of Nigeria was registered in June, 2009, with the Aims and Objectives of Campaigning for road safety, creating awareness on environmental matters, health services among others.”
“The Club first became an affiliate of the Mobility Arm of The Federation International de l’Automobile for its operations in accordance with Articles 3.2 of the FIA Statutes.
“In 2018, following the progress ATCN had made in the activities of the Mobility Arm, the FIA deemed it appropriate to delegate the Motorsport Power in Nigeria to ATCN, to develop motorsport from grassroots to national level; making way for Nigerians to participate in International Championships”, he said.
